CLE Urban Winery expanding as it marks year and a half in business

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio - When CLE Urban Winery opened in July 2016, owner Destiny Burns had a lot of goals on her plate: To be a neighborhood anchor, to educate drinkers on wine, to be a part of the community, to promote wine education.

She's accomplished all of that. But she isn't interested in simply checking off 'done' boxes. Ideas keep coming, goals keep mounting, and Burns and winemaker Dave Mazzone are expanding the business in a multitude of ways.

Monday, Jan. 15, marked exactly a year and a half the winery has been opened at Cedar and Lee roads in Cleveland Heights. Burns is true to her word. If she says she has a goal, she accomplishes it. She remains busy on the creative side, from collaborating with a doughnut company to crafting a plan for more production.

"It seems like 10 years in a good way," Burns said. "I feel like we've been doing this forever. I have had many people say 'This is like my living room but cooler.' Single women feel comfortable at the bar. There's a level of comfort we have created here.

We're not a bar, we're not a restaurant, we're a winery."

And what a year and a half it's been. They have racked up medals, including honors at the Great American International Wine Competition in Rochester, New York. Of the wine made at CLE Urban Winery, 90 percent is sold at the space Burns rents. The location includes an adjacent storefront, which she uses for administrative purposes but her plans are to smash in a wall and bring in more tanks for Mazzone. The goal is not to seal off the space but to divide it with a garage door, offering a transparent glimpse into the winemaking process.

That process also includes a barrel program. The winery has been aging its Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot in Tom's Foolery barrels. The winery ages the wine for four to six months, and bottles sell quickly for $35, they said.

"It gets that nice aroma, a fusion of these flavors," Burns said. "It really tastes like velvet. It's something special." Next batch is due around March or April.

"Good wine should speak to your senses," Mazzone said. And speaking of senses, there are those doughnuts.

"We're always looking for something fun, like (wine) slushies or these doughnuts," Burns said. "Make it fun and accessible but also high-quality and low-priced."

Beginning Friday, Jan. 19, a collaboration with Daylight Donuts will result in doughnut poppers, each pierced by one of three wines in a tiny plastic squeeze dropper. Pinch it, squirt wine into the doughnut, and try to stop at one.

The doughnut deal is an example of what Burns and Mazzone hope to accomplish:

"We want to rob the industry of some pretentiousness," he said. "That's why there's graffiti on the wall and loud music and fun people around."

That also means wine education remains a priority. The winery will offer Tasting 101 classes to arm novice wine drinkers with a primer.

"If they are out and the boss says 'Order some wine for the table' they don't want to look like a dummy," Burns said.

"If you want someone to grow in their wine level of education, they need to feel comfortable," Mazzone said. "They have to be equipped with some tools. In my experience it's vocabulary. You may not know what Chardonnay tastes like, but you know peach."

As it turns out, the winery's Peach Chardonnay is its most popular seller. Last year, 270 cases were produced, followed by 190 cases each of Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.

What will help increase case production is a high-tech finishing machine the winery has installed, which efficiently completes the bottle "presentation" - that is, the label and capsule atop the neck.

While the technology is a help, what Burns and Mazzone understand is that reaching out to customers is key. A wine club has 120 to 130 members each committed to buy two bottles a month with no entry fee. In addition to assorted perks, the group - which meets the second Wednesday each month - has fostered friendships between members, some of whom have even helped work the bottling line, Burns said.

"They get a lot of access to us, see us lift the hood up," she said.

Fun aside, the winery maintains a strong philanthropic focus. Burns, who served in the Navy, said she donated more than $21,000 to local causes in 2017. A standing 10 percent discount is offered to first-responders. And local police and schools are beneficiaries as well.

Burns has struck deals to get her wine into the Rock Hall, Quicken Loans Arena and other places. The winery has partnered with Euro Fine Wines, so expect a bit more presence in the area in coming months. It's all about trying to change the minds of people who might have a stereotype that Ohio wine isn't that good, she said.

"The quality of Ohio wine is going up," Burns said. "People have a prejudice in their mind."

It's no secret the region is much more focused on its craft-brewery base, something that isn't lost on Burns and Mazzone.

"We're like a craft brewery ... They go and get the best ingredients they can and make it here. It's a good business model," Mazzone said. "People come in with mixed trepidations, and they are blown away."

Burns added: "One of the goals is to bring the level of Cleveland wine to where craft beer is, the level of awareness and integration into the fabric of this city."

Their "wine companion to all that Christmas ale" is Christmas Red, with a base of Cabernet Sauvignon along with cinnamon, clove and sweet orange-peel infusion. The wine sold so well "it didn't get all the way to Christmas," Burns said. Mazzone also has made a dry-hopped Pinot Grigio.

"We are a craft-beer-styled winery," he said.

"Things happen or not happen for a reason," Burns said. "I feel like I am just following the bread crumbs of this thing that has taken on a life of its own. It's such an honor. It's like it has its own little life and energy, and I am the caretaker of it."